The Reasons... Concept Essay

Dallice Johnson
Mr. Gowans
Language Arts 12
January 14, 2013

The Reason

“Bullying is a type of aggressive behavior in which there is a power imbalance between its predators and its victims” (Schwarz 344). It takes place all over, many times going unnoticed, it spans over every country. “Bullying is a sociocultural problem that requires interventions” (Schwarz 344). It has occurred in the past, it is prominent in society today, but the ultimate goal is to eliminate it for tomorrow. It is known that bullying is the cause of childhood cases of depression and can even affect a person in their later years of life; this alone being a reason to prevent bullying in schools. If there is a legitimate reason to put an end to this sad occurrence, why haven’t the efforts been made to enforce a no bullying act? Well, the truth of the matter is, there have been many attempts to end current bullying and prevent future bullies, but along the way there have been setbacks keeping the efforts from being completely successful.

First being that students don’t report bullying because they “may fear retaliation from a bully” (Johnson1). Fear is a very big motivator. When it comes to instincts everyone has a “fight or flight” response, meaning that in every case of fear it is natural to either run away from the situation or confront what is the source of your fear. It happens too often that the children being bullied choose the flight reponse, and ignore the fact that they are tormented and harassed rather than reporting the bully. Retaliation of the bully would trigger yet another fight or flight response, and yet again too many of those bullied choose to run from the conflict. That causes an upset in the strife for a bully-free environment. How would officials know what steps to take to end bullying if they are not aware of the problems? Children must feel safe in reporting the bully in order for the bullying to end. This can only come from students knowing and trusting school officials.

It is apparent that prevention of the situation requires awareness to the problem. Ignorance is a reason bullying has yet to be stopped, but there are many additional reasons it is so hard to end bullying. Some believe that bullying cannot be prevented because it stems from their family life and how they are raised. In a study it was found that “there is a positive correlation between the sub-dimension of family support and the sub-dimension of bullying” (Işiklar 895). In simpler terms that means that family support is directly related to whether a student bullies. It went on to explain that children who live in a home when there are cases of open relational aggression, mocking and or abuse, cannot escape the habits of their parents and siblings. Therefore it seems to be pointless to try ending this aggressive behavior. People who think this make the prevention of bullying so much harder than it needs to be. The statement that they cannot be changed because they were raised that way is also incorrect. There are many situations in which someone was raised one way and then as a teen, young adult or even some young children choose to live a different lifestyle than the one they were taught growing up. For instance, Carrie Underwood was raised in a country town, specifically on a farm, where she grew up eating meat that her own family harvested. She now lives a lifestyle in which she opts to not eat any meat. No matter how incorrect some of these opinions about bully prevention are there is no escaping the fact that the do affect the progress of the prevention and end to bullying.

Although some may say that bullying cannot be stopped, it is more common to hear of people being aware that bullying is occurring around them, but they have the mindset of it being a natural part of life. “Although successful bullying programs remain important accomplishments, [researchers] have found... school bullying is not a problem” (Polanin 48). Without a problem there is no need for a solution, therefore if bullying is not viewed as a problem there is no need to find a solution. This causes difficulties in the attempt to trying to stop bullying, especially if those that believe bullying does not negatively affect a person. This mindset is dangerous, it is like believing that if you ignore the fact that an alligator has teeth, it will not hurt when it bites you. Believing that bullying is not a problem is foolish and has to be changed, but regardless of opinions about this situation, the fact is people believe that bullying isn’t a problem. Therefore preventing a bully free environment.

Students are unaware of the people they can turn to for help. Many school leaders are at school for the very purpose of stopping bullying, but the students do not know this is the case. Fearful, they go day to day being bullied and not knowing where to turn. This could be fixed easily by promoting those in position to help throughout the school halls and classrooms. It is detrimental to ensuring a friendly learning zone that our students know who they can turn to if ever they encounter a bully while at school. If students feel in danger or uncomfortable at school notice must be taken by the school and discipline must follow, but that cannot happen when children do not know how to inform said school officials.
Others believe that the reason bully prevention hasn't been successful is because teachers and school officials do not know how to enforce a bully free school policy. In the case of Karen Klein the teens on the bus she monitored made a victim out of the one person who was supposed to help end the problem. One student on the school bus recorded other students as they teased and tormented Klein with jabs and attacks on her weight and family, as well as making malicious, graphic and violent threats. Klein sat silent as they continued to harass and mock her. This women was on the bus for the sole purpose of stopping kids from bullying, she was incapable of doing so, therefore making the pursuit of a bully free environment impossible. It is important that people put in the position to end bullying know how to do so. Without knowing how to stop bullying, leaders become the bullied.
In many instances bully cannot be stopped due to the lack of publicity it has. Cyber-Bullying is able to remain unnoticed because often are these attacks made through text messages that get deleted or over the internet, making it nearly impossible to monitor. It is much easier to prevent bullying if it is recognizable, and it is a lot easier to recognise someone being publicly bullied and harassed than noticing someone using technology to bully another person. Cyber-bullying is one of the most common way bullying happens in today’s society and is also one of the biggest reasons bully prevention has yet to be completely successful. Once again something that is a problem cannot have a solution if there is ignorance to the fact that it is a problem.
In conclusion, there are many reasons that bullying still exists despite the great attempts to be rid of it in our society today. Some of which include but are not limited to, lack of being reported due to fear and not knowing who to tell, unsuitable school officials, and ignorance. All of which make it difficult, if not impossible to have any success in the goal of ending bullying in schools, the workplace and all together in society. Bullying is serious and needs to be viewed that way. No matter what influences an opinion on bullying it still is happening in schools today and there are many trying to end it, and because of some of the aforementioned reasons it has been unsuccessful.

Works Cited

Ilsa Schwarz, et al. "A Stuttering Education And Bullying Awareness And Prevention Resource: A Feasibility Study." Language, Speech & Hearing Services In Schools 43.3 (2012): 344-358. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Jan. 2013
Işiklar, Abdullah, Ali Haydar Şar, and Aslihan Çelᵢk. "Examining The Correlation Between Perceived Social Support In Adolescence And Bullying In Terms Of Prediction." Education132.4 (2012): 889-897. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.
Johnson, Katie. "Bullying Prevention." American School & University 85.1 (2012): 34-37. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.
Nash, Lindsay. "New Jersey's Anti-Bullying Fix: A Solution Or The Creation Of An Even Greater First Amendment Problem?." Brigham Young University Law Review 2012.3 (2012): 1039-1070. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.
Polanin, Joshua R., Dorothy L. Espelage, and Therese D. Pigott. "A Meta-Analysis Of School-Based Bullying Prevention Programs' Effects On Bystander Intervention Behavior." School Psychology Review 41.1 (2012): 47-65. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.